Is there any part of your ministry that is consistently a point of frustration? Maybe you have a good size group, but every time you’ve tried small groups they seem to fall short of expectations. Maybe your students seem passionate, but every time you try to do an outreach event no one shows up.
I wouldn’t consider myself an avid video gamer, but I really enjoy playing the game Angry Birds. If you don’t know the game the concept is pretty simple, you fire different types of birds from a slingshot and try to hit pigs. It sounds crazy, but once you play it can become very addicting! I’ve found that I can play the same level ten, maybe even twenty times with little success. But when I decide to try something completely different just for the sake of trying something different I suddenly see something I never saw before and soon after I beat the level.
Why do I say all this? Because I think sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in doing things certain ways because they make sense, but we find ourselves running into walls. If you’ve tried something many times with little to no results, maybe it’s time to mix it up just for the sake of mixing it up. Who knows – maybe you’ll end up finding something that doesn’t make sense to you at all actually works with the students on your campus. Maybe what makes sense in the culture and world that you come from doesn’t apply to the campus you’re working at. There’s a well known saying in Christian circles that could apply here, “If you want to reach people that nobody’s reaching, you have to do things that nobody’s doing.” Can you think of a time you tried something different just for the sake of mixing things up that worked well? If so, please share it in the comments below.
If there’s anyone out there who has joined the Angry Birds craze like I have below is a fun video with the creators of the game where you can see them make a level. I’ll be taking next week off from the blog to enjoy some time off, so I hope you and your family have a happy fourth of July!